About the artist
My journey as an artist has taken me on a path of exploration, both geographically and artistically.
After high school, I set off to see the country in a 1965 VW Microbus. Perhaps its top cruising speed of 51 mph was when I first began to slow down and really look at things around me. My money ran out in Green River, Utah. I had four dollars and a half tank of gas to my name. I thought I would stay long enough to get gas money to travel to the west coast, but by the time I got my first paycheck, I was hooked by this harsh yet beautiful land of wide open spaces and impossibly blue skies. Utah has been my home ever since.
Moving to Moab, Utah in 1996 was a turning point in my artistic journey. I found myself in a place which, more than twenty years later, still provides endless inspiration. I love being able to be outside hiking or painting in minutes. When a storm moves in, and the clouds and light are exciting, I grab my camera or my pastels, and head out to be part of it. My time spent exploring the land informs my painting both directly and indirectly. Hours spent hiking and cloud-watching may not immediately result in a painting, but they are threads running through the fabric of my creations.
Taking a pastel class in 2008, combined with living in Moab, provided the “perfect storm” of artistic inspiration. I found the medium that finally allowed me to express myself in the way I’d been trying to. Pastel’s immediacy, vibrant colors, and its tactile approach, with the ability to place pigment directly on paper, are among the reasons for my love of the medium.
I hope that through my paintings I can share my vision of the land around me, and challenge viewers to look more deeply themselves. I look at my art as a way to build an understanding of and connection to the land around us.
---- Sarah Hamingson
After high school, I set off to see the country in a 1965 VW Microbus. Perhaps its top cruising speed of 51 mph was when I first began to slow down and really look at things around me. My money ran out in Green River, Utah. I had four dollars and a half tank of gas to my name. I thought I would stay long enough to get gas money to travel to the west coast, but by the time I got my first paycheck, I was hooked by this harsh yet beautiful land of wide open spaces and impossibly blue skies. Utah has been my home ever since.
Moving to Moab, Utah in 1996 was a turning point in my artistic journey. I found myself in a place which, more than twenty years later, still provides endless inspiration. I love being able to be outside hiking or painting in minutes. When a storm moves in, and the clouds and light are exciting, I grab my camera or my pastels, and head out to be part of it. My time spent exploring the land informs my painting both directly and indirectly. Hours spent hiking and cloud-watching may not immediately result in a painting, but they are threads running through the fabric of my creations.
Taking a pastel class in 2008, combined with living in Moab, provided the “perfect storm” of artistic inspiration. I found the medium that finally allowed me to express myself in the way I’d been trying to. Pastel’s immediacy, vibrant colors, and its tactile approach, with the ability to place pigment directly on paper, are among the reasons for my love of the medium.
I hope that through my paintings I can share my vision of the land around me, and challenge viewers to look more deeply themselves. I look at my art as a way to build an understanding of and connection to the land around us.
---- Sarah Hamingson